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One of the more notable features that happened to find its way inside the Google Nexus 4 was its wireless charging capabilities. Compatible with the Wireless Power Consortium’s (WPC) Qi standard, this allows for the Nexus 4 to charge wirelessly with compatible docks right out of the box. No need for special battery covers, or ugly cases — it’s all built right in.
When Google first announced the Nexus 4, they talked briefly about a wireless charging dock for the device that they would, at some point, sell directly from the Google Play Store. We haven’t heard anything since, but if you’re looking to get in on some wireless charging of your very own, there’s no need to wait around for Google to appease you. There are plenty of Qi enabled wireless charging stations available right now from manufacturers like LG and Energizer.
My friend John Staton let me play around with his fresh out of the box LG WCP-700 wireless charging pad and you can find a quick hands-on video below.
While LG’s charging pad seemed to work fine in the short 3 minutes of the video, I did find that it was a bit finicky and would disconnect/reconnect after a few minutes time. This resulted in a loud beeping noise coming from the pad letting you know it was connected, but for light sleepers out there, it may prove troublesome.
Energizer also has their wireless charging pads (you can find ’em at retail stores like Target or Walmart), and reviews seem to be mixed when it comes to Nexus 4 users. The glass backing on the Nexus 4 causes the device to slip around and because Energizer’s pads are on a slight incline, they could cause the phone to completely slide off the pad altogether. You can see where a bumper case would come in handy for added grip (or a can of Plasti-Dip). Energizer’s pad did fare better in the rest of the review, keeping the device charging constantly, and requiring little-to-no fuss in regards to placement.
While the convenience of wireless charging is still under some review (holding your device while it’s charging is pretty much out of the question), there is a definite effort to bring wireless charging into the mainstream. The only problem, like most things, is there’s 2 main camps fighting to become that standard: Duracell/Powermat’s Power Matters Alliance, backed by AT&T, Starbucks, at Google — and the Wireless Power Consortium. Who will come out on top is anyone’s guess.
[LG wireless charging station (from the video) | Energizer wireless charging station]
The Nexus 4 is so awesome. I wish I had a reliable GSM or HSPA+ carrier in my area. If this was CDMA & LTE, I would be buying one so fast!
Yea, if it had LTE/CDMA, i would have bought one by now too. Alas Google has abandoned me, I may do the same to them.
It actually does have LTE, people need to do their research lol, they dont advertise it for some reason but it does have the hardware for it and you just have to turn it on in the drivers… xD so all you people saying you would buy it if it had LTE can go and buy it now
Come on. You are trying to say that you don’t have att or tmobile coverage. Can I ask this ‘sweet’ location?
no one wants Tfumble and ATT is at the bottom of the satisfaction poll. You do the math.
Those satisfaction polls are so distorted, we are talking about a difference of 10 or 20 max points on a scale of 800 at the very least (I’m not sure how high it goes) They only show the last 70 points or so in the graph to make their study look more important, but in reality the scores are all very similar and close. Carrier choice is very individualized, it depends on coverage were you live, how important choice is in phones (GSM carriers like AT&T and T-mobile win hands down in this category), data policy and your usage and price.
Anyone who makes decisions based on those satisfaction survey’s is being duped.
I pay $20/mo with my prepaid T-Mobile plan the way I use it, and Im not at all relient on Internet everywhere.
$20/mo or $70/mo with your fancy Internet you can pretty much get with Wi-fi if you know how to look?
You do the math.
More like if it had expandable memory/32gb version I would have bought this already. 16gb is nowhere near enough for me
I tried charging my Nexus 4 on the Nokia DT-900 charging plate but it was extremely spotty. Pretty much useless. It would charge for a few minutes, then disconnect for a longer period of time and then reconnect. After 4 hours it had only charged 10%. I find it very strange since they are both Qi.
My N4 charges just fine on my LG WCP-700. I never had a disconnect yet.
Weird, someone else had the same complaint on Amazon. If you leave it, sometimes you’ll hear the charging noise go off like it briefly disconnected. Weird.
Isnt this the pad that has an alarm sound when it is done charging? From what Ive heard once its done, it beeps then goes to trickle and for some reason the phone discharges a % or two and the pad starts charging it again which causes another alarm to go off when its fully charged again.
All I know is I hope Google doesnt Samsung us with the N4 wireless charging orb. Im starting to think most GS3 users will never see official wireless charging accessories.
It only beeps the first time you place it down for charging. I assume during a connect. I’ve never heard it beep when it reaches fully charged.
Thats good info because I was seriously considering that pad if the official orb takes too long to be released
The charging noise?
I have that issue with my WCP-700. It never actually gets to a full charge and stops and starts charging nonstop when it gets near full. It will literally beep about every 3-5 minutes. I’m trying to get an exchange or will give up and try the Nokia DT900. (Using a DNA)
Oh yeah? Is that why you wrote it in your article or because you actually experienced it? Weird. Hard to trust you after your biased and misleading N4 review.
Not one disconnect here with the LG charger after a few weeks. In fact the LG charger is the only one that people on xda have not reported problems with, other than not liking the sound of the beep.
This doesn’t provide any benefits over pogo pins or a slide-in dock. The device still only charges while it’s placed on the mat. It’s basically a charging dock without the snug fit.
It’s a good quick easy/lazy way to charge. Drunk people would find this useful; fewer damaged charge ports.
Good point actually, the drunks will definitely love this.
but this isnt the wireless charger.
technically it is wireless charging on the phones part.
I think the problem with pogopins… which I love… is that standardization would be a lot more difficult, they tend to be on the side of the phone… The only pogopin charger available for my nexus one is the charger manufactured by htc… and if I get a new phone it will be useless… at least with ‘place-on-the-mat’ charging it seems that the phone doesn’t have to match the charger and so it’s less wasteful.
I’m very careful myself and only have a few very light scratches around the usb port on both my galaxy nexus and S2 (for work) but the fact remains that when I go in my bedroom to go to sleep I’m normally carrying my phone and as the charger is near my bed I frequently turn off the light before getting in bed and plugging the charger in.
Wireless charging simplifies this, just place and mat and wait for beep. with usb you have to make sure you’ve got the cord in the right direction and fumble around to put it in the snug slide-in dock. Not to mention the problems people who use cases like me often run into with docks.
It has it’s uses, will it ever likely be a make or break feature, NO. but for many people it’s a really nice extra convenience.
What’s the point of wireless charging?It also needs cable to charge it
lol, thats not the wireless charger
What’s the point of WiFi. The WiFi router still needs a network cable …
and boom goes the dynamite
That’s completely different thing!Wifi needs a router in order to work! What’s the point of wireless charger if the wireless charger still needs a cable to power up…wireless charging means no cable if the wireless charger still needs a cable to power up i don’t see the point of having a wireless charger!Don’t be lazy to just plug the cable into the phone….
Think more into the future. When car manufacturers put charging coils inside of your center console where your phone sits. Or a dedicated slot to sit your phone in that has charging coils. You would never need a car charger again.
How about at library and the table has charging all in it. Yes the table is plugged into a port below the table but you and 3 friends with 4 phones and 4 laptops all charging at the same time WITH NO CABLES!
The the future of wireless charging. It just needs time and more company’s to start working with it.
But the thing is there are no such things yet….Look into the future skip this wireless charger and use back your own charger…save your pocket money for nexus 5!The wireless charger is just an extra thing for you phone,You want it you buy it i’m just saying my point of view.No need waste your time to argue with me.
I am in no way trying to argue. I am just explaining the amazing uses that could arise from wireless charging. I agree it does not exist yet but the tech needs to start somewhere and the possibilities are endless.
Everything extra costs extra. It’s available as an option. If you don’t want it, DONT BUY IT. Yes.. no need wasting our time arguing with a passive aggressive who really had no opinion on the first place.
My opinion is my opinion not yours i can think very differently than you!
And their won’t be those things if no early adopters buy into it. If they can’t get users to buy a cheap wireless charging pad, they aren’t going to invest in tables in libraries that charge phones, the most sensible place to start with wireless charging is home wireless charging.
I know I wish all of my portable devices had wireless charging and then I could buy one big charging mat, instead of have 5 different chargers all plugged into a power strip near my bed.
Not true. My car (dodge dart) has wireless charging in the center stack.
That’s exactly the same thing. WiFi needs a cable to work and wireless charging needs a cable to work.
The benefits o not needing to hook up a network cable or charger cable to your device directly is speed, convenience and less wear and tear on the device. The last one really is the biggest advantage really.
BTW look into resonance charging. That allows more spatial freedom from the charge point. The Samsung Galaxy S3 was supposed to have that already, but they were forced to go with the old induction charging instead.
Intel is trying to get that integrated in Ultrabooks. Just put your phone somewhere near your laptop and it will remain charged.
I don’t know why you guys keep on shooting me..the wireless laptop that you said is a cool thing than this wireless charger and it does not exist! Think of it,if you use a cable to charge your phone you can use it when you’re charging but if you use wireless charger you have to put it on the thing to charge it.if you’re a person who don’t use the phone while you’re charging then you would like to buy one but if you’re like me you will see how the old way of charging is way more benefit…..I don’t know why you all keep on saying the things that don’t even exist.
We keep pointing things out because you keep pretending that there is no benefit.
You CAN use your phone while it’s on the charger or if you take it off shortly, you can just lay it down again. Do you have more bogus arguments for why it’s unusable?
Resonance charging already exists.
LoL,i have a user right,right?I can comment on anything i want and i can give my personal opinion and i don’t need your reply and advise because we are different nobody is the same i can have my own opinion and you can have yours and first thing i want to point out is that me myself pointing out the bad one and if you want me to point out the good one for you,i can do it BUT i just don’t want to do it because i have the RIGHT!You guys just don’t understand.I’M JUST SAYING OUT THE CONS AND THAT DOESN’T MEANT THAT THE THING DOESN’T HAVE PROS RIGHT?Let’s just close this useless conversation no matter how many times I explain it is just a waste because you guys just don’t understand!
Point is, you made a dumb statement. Got exposed and now you try to heap on more and more blabla to pretend you were right all along.
Doesn’t work. Just makes it worse really.
Of course you can say whatever nonsense you want, but you will be called out on it. So if you really don’t like to be called out on saying stupid things, perhaps try to say sensible things?
Cons are: higher cost and energy waste.
Pro’s are: convenience, reduced wear and tear on the device.
Say what you want to say i’m tired of listening!YOU SPEAK NOTHING!USE YOUR BRAIN TO THINK NOT YOUR MOUTH!Think before you say!
Lol, says the one who doesn’t understand that wireless charging doesn’t require the insertion of a cable into the device …
BTW I’m pretty sure you can’t hear me think or speak. Perhaps you mean write?
Seriously though, when you don’t get the candy you like from your mom, do you lay in the store on the floor screaming your lungs out till she gets them for you?
LoL,i don’t know if you’re stupid or what….don’t you understand english?And what you said is already out of topic…..
Well that’s a good point. I’m not a native English speaker myself, but I have to agree that your English is indeed incredibly poor. It’s barely comprehensible most of the time.
It really reflects your mental instability though. It fits the way you freak out when someone has the audacity to go against your almighty “rightness”. Bursting out in all caps when your stupid remarks gets picked apart by people who do know what they are talking about.
Again, it’s really simple, wireless charging is wireless. If you don’t understand that then indeed you need to use your brain or if you already did then wonder if your too stupid.
Excuse me!! who want to argue with me in the first place and don’t you understand i said i want to close this useless conversation and you’re the one who keep on replied my comment that isn’t related to you!!If you understand english just stop this conversation!
I understand English just fine. Just saying what you’re writing is more often than not gibberish. It hardly qualifies as English. Engrish maybe? Just read it back, it’s embarrassing.
You posted something incredibly stupid on a public forum. To which I replied and ever since you keep on whining about things. Not sure what the issue is, but I have to admit I like seeing you freak out. So, just keep it up.
Let’s make this clear! you point out the pros and i point out the cons that’s how things work if everyone keeps pointing out the pros and nobody pointing out the cons can you see things work?Can you see improvement if a thing doesn’t have the cons and do you think the creator will improve the thing?Everything should have the cons to say out not just the pros….Think of it!
It’s not different. Learn to know what “different” means.
Wow, just wow.
Wifi needs a router to work yes, in that it creates the wifi signal.
Charging a device needs power, how else do you suppose they get the power from the wall outlet to the charging mat?
The point is avoiding having to use the plug each time you charge, just once when you plug in the wireless charger.
Almost all innovation in consumer technology is just a way to be lazier.
Who needs cable remotes, Don’t be lazy just get up and change the channel
Who needs Wifi, just run the Cat5 cable to where you need to use your laptop.
Who needs online shopping? their are stores all over the place.
Are they every absolutely necessary, no. They get adopted because most people are lazy and / or like devices that make any part of their hectic life easier.
No constantly plugging and unplugging the phone. Slightly quicker and saves wear on the USB port.
.
If I am at work I am constantly at and away from my desk. Its not worth plugging it in and out every few minutes. Wireless allows me to microcharge my phone throughout the day just by putting it on my desk when I am there.
Everything got its pros and cons i’m just stating the cons of this thing… no offence.
Yes, you’re oblivious to the pros and choose to be passive aggressive in your approach.
I’m not oblivious to the pros i just don’t want to say the pros because i just think of its cons more than the pros
I think everyone is missing the whole point in using this versus a standard port when there would be little physical wear and tear. I’ve l lost two phones because of bad usb ports.
I’ve lost 1 & if the N4 doesn’t hurry up into stock soon I may lose another !
Bad usb/charging port can be replaced if you don’t want to pay for a new phone
Just lost one myself by tripping over my charging cord and ruining my usb port. Wireless is definitely a better idea.
easy to replace a bad USB port.. don’t be cheap.
It has this utterly pointless feature yet it can’t handle LTE or CDMA like every other phone in the US.
Google could have made it LTE/CDMA but then if it was CDMA it wouldn’t be a true Nexus. LTE… Is a battery drainer… they’d prolly wait till it would be LTE-A
that’s funny because plenty of LTE phones including the LG optimus G, get better battery life than this this Nexus 4 does.
I haven’t seen anything reported about the battery life of the Nexus 4 that used the final revision Nexus 4 all of the reviews I have seen with battery life have stated they used the pre-production model
Then the CDMA Market isn’t big enough to warrant manufacturing a device which is only used in the USA. I would imagine it’s pretty much the same with LTE – hence no CDMA/LTE.
What’s the specs of the charging dock? voltage? will it charge with gps, wifi, pandora, and bluetooth running?
Try using Google. Don’t ask to be fed like a baby bird throughout your whole life.
Don’t be a tool. I see that you posted 6 times to this article and not once where you helpful. You just scold people and act like a posting Nazi.
This is a perfect place to ask questions,
THIS IS NOT A FORUM, IT’S AN ARTICLE CREATED TO GIVE PEOPLE INFORMATION. DUH! Go ahead and reply to this, I already know you have to have the last word. TOOL!
NO ONE ASK A QUESTION ON THIS ARTICLE IF YOU CAN GOOGLE IT BECAUSE ingua2 DOESN’T LIKE IT.
Your mom keeps her Midol right beside her bed. You should go grab some real quick
How many watts are being consumed when you do all of this?
Then go back and reference the technical docs. Then realize that it charges like a laptop port, and can be faster/slower depending on how aligned you are.
See how many variables there are? Your just asking if it will charge with gps, wifi, pandora and bluetooth doesn’t really give anyone anything to go on. I have given some insight.
Why are you using gps when you are on a charger designed for non-mobile use?
Good question moew. here is the project I am currently trying to complete. In the forum you will see the wireless voltage specs of a touchstone charger. I was just wondering if the Qi could handle the additional load of gps, streaming. etc etc while charging.
I was just asking or trying to ask Chris if he had tried to place a load on the phone while charging and did he see positive results. Nothing specific but did it charge or not. It would cost entirely to much for me to buy everything just to test this. Sincerely, Thank you moew. I appreciate your adult demeanor.
http://forums.androidcentral.com/verizon-galaxy-nexus-accessories/147840-guide-galaxy-nexus-mod-palm-touchstone-no-soldering-phone.html
The wireless charging has nothing to do with the internal load.
The basic question is, “can qi charging keep up with high demand, but we don’t know the demand”. Well that’s not a question, but the answer is going to be almost NO based on QI and DROID’s .
If you are trying to make a custom nav mount that I’ve seen on forums, you can complete it and say it probably won’t charge the phone properly, use a good 1.0 cigarette adapter, 2.0 is preferred on these new android phones.
-Engineer
I actually love wireless charging my Nexus 4 (and Droid DNA). You just put the mat near where you normally keep your phone, and whenever you put it down it automatically charges. So you can use your phone as you normally do, it charges in the down time, and you never have to plug it in. I have one on my desk at work and one next to my bed at home, and my phone’s always charged.
I’m using the LG one in the video here. I tried the Nokia one, but it doesn’t really work.
The DNA works great with either the LG one or the Nokia one.
How about that ugly beep sound – can you turn it off?
There’s a hack where you open up the pad and remove the part that’s making that annoying sound. It take’s about 5 minutes to do. I did it on both of my LG Wireless chargers! Works great on the Nexus 4! :)
Thanks for the tip )
Good to know.
Can I root it? Tweak the charging Chip to charge some rechargeable batteries I have? :)
Any news on the Orb one that we saw awhile ago?
I used to love the wireless charging for my Palm Pre+ on the “puck”, so simply, so effective. And no broken USB connector like some of my friends with their Droids.
My Nexus 4 works well with the Energizer charging pads I got. No issues with the slightly angled pad the phone never slips off.
Just got the energizer one last night and it works great. Charged my n4 and lumina 920 no problem. I tried the Nokia one with the n4 and I didn’t work well. I had bumpers on my phones so I did not have any issues with my device slipping off.
i haven’t been able to find those chargers on target or walmart’s websites, are the in stores?
anyone know if the nokia wireless charging stand will work for the nexus 4, i know its Qi but i wonder if it will line up
Anyone know which of these has the strongest magnet? I’m looking to mount the wireless charger in my car and have the magnet hold it completely vertical, but it would have to be strong enough to hold the phone up and not have it fly off if I hit a bump.
why no actual review of the charging speed…. 50% fail
My nexus 4 status led is one color white which fades in and out slowly every 2 seconds or so. Does anybody else have this cause I have read about different colors. Even when my battery is fully charged I get no status at all. Pulse notifications is checked
Does wireless charging work through a TPU case? Eventually when they are available I plan on getting a Bumper case, but because I’m protective of my devices, I bought a cheap $5 TPU case to tide my over until they become available.
why no actual review of the charging speed…. 50% fail
where is the cheap Verizon/Sprint version?
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